a journal of analysis and comment
advancing public understanding of religion and education
(more
on the Journal)

Vol. 31 No. 1 Spring
2004

Spirituality and School Leaders:
The Value of Spirituality in the Lives of Aspiring School Leaders

Felicia Blacher-Wilson

In the months and days following the events of September 11, 2001 and after
tragic acts in schools where students bore arms and killed each other in mass,
society seems to be stunned, somewhat confused and seeking answers and safe
havens. The schoolhouse, once an oasis for many, now looms as a place that stood
as a target for those seeking to do harm to others.

It is no wonder, then, that school leaders are asking
questions they had not asked before, seeking strength through peace and
wondering about greater purpose in their lives. Many leaders are now looking
within and outside of self to find strength and peace and the will to go forth.
In these confusing and turbulent postmodern times, school leaders are craving
some unseen source of guidance and direction. What is so obviously needed in the
school is community that is humane, nourishing, authentic, credible, and
centered on a purpose higher than ourselves-a "spiritual-centered
workplace."

1

Although school leaders in urban settings have always
experienced challenging conditions, other school leaders who serve school
districts that had once been less stressful, less threatening, and less chaotic
now share with their urban colleagues in some of the most complicated and
demanding work of educating young people. More and more the challenges seen in
urban settings are also being manifested in non-urban settings. Increasingly
school leaders are becoming the "shock absorbers" of the school
district. They have to endure pressure from the government, the community, the
central office, the teachers’ association, families and students. They are
expected to ‘have all the answers,’ possess the skills and demonstrate the
behaviors necessary to calm the anxious, ease the worried, reassure the
frightened, and support the insecure-all while leading the school toward greater
accountability and high stakes performance in an increasingly managerial world.
Leadership and Spirituality

Since the beginning of the 20

th
century, the theories and practices of leadership have evolved from the
"Great Man" theory and scientific management to transactional and
transformational leadership.2 Roost
posited a "new leadership" that is a synthesis of visionary
leadership, which is vision-driven, Transformative leadership, which is
learning-driven, and spiritual leadership which is value-driven. He defines
spiritual leadership as "the ability to inspire others to behave consistent
with their highest moral and ethical values in the way they live and work with
others."3 He makes no
distinction between "life" and "work" but rather blurs their
boundaries to reflect a human existence characterized by the spiritual values of
empathy, compassion, humility, and love.

For many there exists little or no difference in the defining of spirituality
and religion; the two concepts co-exist and are not separable.